Switching to 2x a week

[pobox1334]

Hey everyone thank you for all the useful info on this site. It's been really helpful to me.

So I've been training about 15 years and I'm in my mid 30s. I've always (for the most part) trained each muscle once a week so chest day, back day, leg day etc.

I really want to increase my results and have been wanting to train 2x a week , especially bc I've been focusing a lot on my legs lately and want to give them much more attention.

I'm just confused about how many sets to do. So currently for chest and back I'll do about 16-20 sets per. Arms about 12 sets. Shoulders get 16 and about 20 sets on leg day.

I'm thinking about starting like this
Day 1: chest and back
Day 2: legs
Day 3: shoulders and arms
Day 4: off or cardio and abs
Day 5: repeat

So should I cut the amount of sets I'm currently doing in half and do them 2x a week so for instance if I'm doing 16 sets on chest day doing it 1x a week, should I do 8 sets 2x a week? Legs 10 sets 2x a week or should i increase it some so the overall set amount is more? I hope this question makes sense, I think it does.

And I'm currently 1 month into a test and eq cycle if that makes a difference..

Thank you guys so much for any input!

 

[Test_Subject]

Take the sets that you'd normally do with your current split and just divide them into two days. Same volume, increased frequency.

If you find that the volume isn't enough after a few weeks of training, slowly add more sets in or crank up your intensity a bit.

Dr. Mike Israetel has written some really interesting stuff on the topic of training volume:

https://renaissanceperiodization.com/training-volume-landmarks-muscle-growth/

 

[Btcowboy]

Take the sets that you'd normally do with your current split and just divide them into two days. Same volume, increased frequency.

If you find that the volume isn't enough after a few weeks of training, slowly add more sets in or crank up your intensity a bit.

Dr. Mike Israetel has written some really interesting stuff on the topic of training volume:

https://renaissanceperiodization.com/training-volume-landmarks-muscle-growth/

This and was going to recommend reading up on RP.

 

[pobox1334]

Wow I've never read this article before and it's great! Thank you!

 

[MisterSuperGod]

Take the sets that you'd normally do with your current split and just divide them into two days. Same volume, increased frequency.

If you find that the volume isn't enough after a few weeks of training, slowly add more sets in or crank up your intensity a bit.

Dr. Mike Israetel has written some really interesting stuff on the topic of training volume:

https://renaissanceperiodization.com/training-volume-landmarks-muscle-growth/

Alright, Bert. School me. If he's hitting chest for 20 sets - 1x per week, how is hitting chest for 10 sets - 2x per week going to be any different?

Wouldn't he want to add a couple sets, say 12 sets - 2x per week to increase what he was doing previously at 1x per week?

i'm looking to ditch my bro split routine too and just want to fully understand why i would be doing what i'm doing.

 

[Test_Subject]

Alright, Bert. School me. If he's hitting chest for 20 sets - 1x per week, how is hitting chest for 10 sets - 2x per week going to be any different?

Wouldn't he want to add a couple sets, say 12 sets - 2x per week to increase what he was doing previously at 1x per week?

i'm looking to ditch my bro split routine too and just want to fully understand why i would be doing what i'm doing.

The short answer is that with a bro split a lot of the volume is "junk volume," meaning that the volume is well over the amount required to trigger increased protein synthesis, which lasts for roughly two days. When you split that volume up, you're getting two periods of increased protein synthesis rather than one and converting that junk volume into effective volume that builds muscle rather than just accumulating fatigue and making recovery more difficult.

The other benefit is that with a lower training volume, you can increase your intensity without hurting yourself because you're doing less overall sets in a day. You need to feel it out as far as extra sets. Your original 20 may indeed turn into 12 sets twice a week if 10 isn't doing the trick.

That's a very simplistic version of it. If you want to get into it in more detail I'd recommend reading some of the papers that Charles Poliquin and Mike Isratel have written about the subject. It's interesting stuff.

 

[pobox1334]

Alright, Bert. School me. If he's hitting chest for 20 sets - 1x per week, how is hitting chest for 10 sets - 2x per week going to be any different?

Wouldn't he want to add a couple sets, say 12 sets - 2x per week to increase what he was doing previously at 1x per week?

i'm looking to ditch my bro split routine too and just want to fully understand why i would be doing what i'm doing.

What mrsupergod said was what I was wondering too. How would it be any different. So the point is that even though I'm not increasing the training volume per se, increasing the frequency equates to a more anabolic response bc my muscles are recovering 2x per week instead of only once..

 

[Test_Subject]

What mrsupergod said was what I was wondering too. How would it be any different. So the point is that even though I'm not increasing the training volume per se, increasing the frequency equates to a more anabolic response bc my muscles are recovering 2x per week instead of only once..

That's it, essentially. Past a certain number of sets per body part per session, you're just accumulating fatigue and increasing your recovery time and not really adding anything to your muscle mass.

Splitting the volume up gives you more reward for the same overall amount of work.